President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday morning began his visit to Germany with a meeting with Minister-President of Bavaria, Horst Seehofer. Rivlin thanked his host for the warm welcome and said, “It is a great honor for us to be your guests in Bavaria. This is an important event not only because of the memorial, but because of the statement it makes against global terrorism, and this is an important visit in deepening the relationship between Israel and Germany.”
President Rivlin noted the warm friendship between the countries, the commitment of Bavaria to the relationship with the State of Israel, and the importance of the establishment of a memorial to the Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 Olympics.
Minister-President Seehofer thanked the President for his words and said, “The honor is ours, and we thank you for coming for this moving event. There is a strong bond of friendship between Israel and Bavaria, and this event for which you have come is an opportunity to deepen our strong relationship.”
The Minister-President complimented the foreign services of the State of Israel on all its representatives to Germany over the years, and in particular to the Consulate in Bavaria, which he noted was an inseparable part of the community life there. He emphasized that over the years, the leadership in Bavaria had been careful to show no tolerance to any kind of racism, especially anti-Semitism.
In parallel to the meeting, First Lady Nechama Rivlin met with the Minister-President’s wife, Mrs. Karin Seehofer, together with Israel Prize Laureate for Sport Esther Roth-Shahamorov, who was part of the Israeli delegation in 1972.